How a British gaming company got its hit app into the new season of 'House of Cards'

President Frank Underwood has a new favourite game — and it's
made by a British mobile company.

On Friday, Netflix released the fourth season of the wildly
popular political drama "House of Cards." It follows the
fictional US president Frank Underwood as he battles for
re-election to the White House.

And in Episode nine, British gaming company Miniclip makes a
cameo.

Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, is known for his love of
games. In season one, he frequently played shooter games
including "Call of Duty" to wind down. By season three, after he
had graduated from senator to Commander-in-Chief, he was seen
enjoying "Monument Valley," an atmospheric platform puzzler for
smartphones and tablets.

Now, he's playing "Agar.io" — a multiplayer mobile and online
game that involves controlling an amoeba-like blob as you attempt
to eat other players, grow, and avoid being eaten yourself. It is
published by Miniclip, a 14-year-old games company based in
London. Its games have been downloaded half a billion times.

Miniclip

"We received a call from the 'House of Cards' production team,
out of the blue. They already knew about the game and wanted to
include it in the show, and naturally we were delighted," company
spokesperson Ben Meakin told Business Insider.

The company provided the production team with a special build of
the game — users are able to customise their blob with images, so
they needed to avoid Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton appearing by
accident while they were filming.

"Agar.io" is already pretty big — it has 60 million monthly
players. But Miniclip is hoping its inclusion will give it
further momentum. "Monument Valley" was given an "insane" boost
by season three,
creator Daniel Gray told the BBC at the time: "We had about
eight time the number of downloads we usually would do."

A
screenshot of Agar.io. Miniclip had to make a special version of
the game to make sure Obama didn't pop up by
accident.Miniclip

"When we learned that 'House of Cards' wanted to include the game
in the show, we were blown away. 'Agar.io' has been incredibly
popular since it launched last year, and this latest news really
underlines it as a cultural phenomenon," Miniclip CEO Rob Small
told Business Insider. "The game joins a very prestigious club of
titles that have been played by Frank Underwood – we hope this
will lead to plenty of new fans discovering Agar.io and joining
the millions around the world that already play and love it."

You can see Agar.io in episode 9 ("Chapter 48") of
"House of Cards" season 4 at around the 31-minute
mark.